In the last years, the bottling industry has used for the packing of its products a series of plastic carriers which introduce bottled beverages to the consumer in non-returnable six pack receptacles.
The majority of the bottle carriers that can be found in the market have been designed to hold the bottles by the neck, such as is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,792. This bottle carrier is made up of a flat plastic material which includes a series of openings which receive the upper part of the bottle; an elastic band that is formed integrally in the bottle carrier by a circular band which is connected to the aforementioned bottle carrier by weak connectors that are easily detached and which join the bottle carrier and the band. The cited band serves to maintain the bottle holder and the band joined and at the same time surround and hold the bottles in the said bottle carrier.
Another type of bottle carrier is described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,962 which supports the bottles by their neck. The said bottles can be locked into and removed from a plurality of uniforming spaced split bottleneck receiving collars, each mounted within an individual frame interconnected with the other individual frames within the confines of an outer frame.
A third example of bottle carriers is covered by U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,835 which includes a frame that has a series of openings on the same and is surrounded by a series of cylindrical segments-that are adapted to receive, hold and set free a bottle by its-neck. Each one of the said openings includes a portion that has a wide and a narrow pitch.
As can be seen from the previous descriptions there are several types of bottle carriers. However, one of the principal problems that is inherent in all of the bottle carriers described is the fact that the bottles scrape against each other when they are being transported.
As can be seen, with the known bottle carriers the bottles are held by the neck through the use of a band or a surrounding-edge that holds all of them. Consequently at the time that they are transported by the user the bottles nock against each other with occasional breakage.
Another problem found with the known bottle carriers is the fact that some have quite a complicated configuration and this has as a result a high cost.
Taking into account the previous art on bottle carriers it become clear that there is a need for a bottle carrier that has a simple form and that is easily adaptable to support with sufficient firmness several beverage bottles from the neck and the middle. The bottle carrier should be support the bottles-independent of each other. This new bottle carrier must have a lower cost and offer greater carrying safety.
This type of bottle carrier is generally made up of: a supporting frame which includes a pair of finger openings on the mentioned frame which serve as a handle. Six rings are integrated in opposing pairs on the edge of the structure which can be-adapted to independently fasten each bottle by its shoulder; a-second group of rings with a smaller diameter than the ones described above which include a series of flexible notched projections on their top part are used to receive and hold the neck of each bottle; and at least a pair of holding bands which interconnect each primary and secondary rings, thus forming a rigid structure which firmly holds each one of the bottles by the neck and shoulder, independently of each other.